Thanksgiving 2005 — in Full Color!

Instead of boring all of you with my insesant ranting, I will share a few snapshots from our extended Thanksgiving weekend.

(Click on the pictures to make them larger.)

While Erin and my sister in-law C-Dawg (Cyri) tackled the Black Friday hoards, mom, dad, Leif, and I visited my parents property in Park Rapids, MN (about an hour and half drive from Moorhead). My sister Emily stayed home and babysat Bella and Missy.

On Saturday, we traveled the 3 plus miles to Bethany Homes in Fargo to visit my Grandpa Eidsmoe. Bethany Homes is also where my dad gets his paycheck from. (Hopefully we will get a discount when we put my dad and mom in the nursing home. Just kidding guys.)

Later that day, I gave Bella Monster her first, and over-due bath. She actually did pretty well. Of course when you are the size of a large rat, it makes it easier to control her.

Needless to say, she was looking to get out before the bath had started. She also got her nails cut. That ended up being more difficult than bath time.

Sunday, my Grandma and aunt Carrie came over to watch the Vikings take care of the Browns on the brand new 50" wide screen T.V.

Here is Betty shivering in the ice storm. By the time this pic was taken, I-94 was closed and we hadn't even been hit with the worst of the blizzard.

Here is Bella, clean, cut, and worring about the ongoing storm. :)

—b

Stranded!

This post comes to you courtesy of Mom and Dad Eidsmoe's computer. Yep, it's Monday morning and Erin and I are still here. It doesn't look like we will be leaving any time soon. Freezing rain, 3" - 7" of snow, and 25 - 40 mph wind gusts. Fun! The snow and wind don't concern me as much as the result of freezing rain. It is slicker than snot on a doorknob. Yum. It took my parents neighbor four tries to get up the driveway.

Flights have been postponed. Schools and colleges have been cancelled. Events are being called off and business are closing early. We are in the middle of it all. Gotta love northeren Minnesota!

—b

Packers vs. Vikings #2 2005

It's been a lonely year for Brett Favre.

I honestly feel sorry for him. He has no help. The Packers are down to their practice squad running back, an on-the-way-out wide receiver, and a kicker who's been inconsistent at best. #4 has been trying to win games by himself. And as we can see from Green Bay's 2-8 record, it doesn't work. No matter how good you are.

I should let Erin tell you more about game two between the Vikings and the Packers since she watched it all. I was home sick and sleeping. I did catch parts of it but I didn't get to enjoy the Viking victory.

Erin and J went down to Joe Sensor's to watch the game and were shut out. Not because they didn't get there early enough (one hour early) but because they didn't get there early enough. Make sense? Who would have thought they would have needed to be there waiting more than an hour early? (I guess everyone who got there more than an hour early.) Do you think I could say more than an hour early one more time? Oh yea, I just did. ;)

Anyway, the two Packer fans found a home for 3 plus hours at Champ's. Another sports bar just second rate compared to Joe Sensor's. Judging by the final score, I haven't asked if they had fun. The Packers losing (and for me the Vikings losing) is a touchy subject. Especially when it's to each other's rival.

All I can say is what goes around comes around. Last year the Packers swept the Vikings (minus the playoff appearance) and this year the Vikings took both games from the Packers.

Here's to next year.

—b

Day After Thanksgiving Shopping (Black Friday)

POP QUIZ
It has been given the term of "Black Friday".
A. The 1939 fires in Australia
B. The 1945 air battle over Norway
C. The 1978 massacre of Iranian protesters
D. The 2005 After Thanksgiving Day Sales
E. All of the above

Answer:
E. All of the above

Yep, the "Day After Thanksgiving" sales is lumped in with those tragedies of the past. Go figure. Although, that description may not be far off. Chaos Friday would seem to fit better. What other day of the year would people purposely sign up to receive wake up calls from Kermit the frog, a supermodel, and country music singer Brad Paisley, just to name a few. Arrive at stores before 5:00 am, wait in line for the doors to open, RUN, try and find what you want from that store, WAIT in line, then RUSH over to the next store to endure the exact same thing all before time runs out. Sounds a game show doesn't it? (I'll take the Physical Challenge, Mark.)

(Hmmm... I wonder who would win. The crowds of people shopping on Black Friday or an army of orcs from the Lord of the Rings? My money is on the shopping crowds. Especially with my wife among them!)

I did do some research for those of you who will join my wife, at least in the spirit of shopping, in the Friday morning chaos:

Wal•Mart They have an on-line only sale as well as a special after Thanksgiving day sale. 5:00 am to 11:00 am only. They will also match any competitors ad. Very cool.

Target They are the one who are guilty of offering celebrity wake-up calls. I might just sign up just to say that Kermit the frog called me. Their 2-Day sale flyer has some pretty sweet deals in it. Brand new DVD's offered dirt cheap. But remember, for those who don't have a Target near by [ahem, Peshtigo] Wal••Mart will match Target's ad. Just be sure to print one out.

K•B Toys For kids just like me, K••B has an early bird 60% off sale. I guess it would be good for everything Wal••Mart and Target don't carry.

ShopKo For you Peshtigoians, ShopKo has been offering a PRE-Thanksgiving day sale. It ends today. I'm assuming they will have something for Friday.

Apple Every year Apple throws their hat into the ring. But every year we don't know what specials they offer until the day of. So if a special someone on your list wants an iPod, I would check out Apple as Friday would be the best day to get one.

Amazon.com Even Amazon.com is taking advantage. Kitchen and housewares are all on-sale. Maybe they are the smart ones. You can save 60% in your underwear. That might be kinda fun. :)

Here the "official" link of Black Friday 2005. It has an exhaustive list of which stores will be selling what. Definitely worth a look. http://bf2005.com/

For those of you who would rather sleep in, I would suggest catching a holiday movie in the afternoon. We can laugh at everyone else who is now too tired to do anything.

Have fun, don't get trampled, and try and remember the REAL reason for Thanksgiving.

—b

BEing Sick

Being sick has not been fun. :(

—b

Change

Change. That is probably the best word I could come up with, using my limited vocabulary, that describes both Erin and I right now. Right now it seems as if we have four homes. Jan's place in Apple Valley, our townhouse in Shakopee, work in Bloomington, and last and probably least is our storage shed in Shoreview. That's more homes than I want.

Erin has been busy painting and organizing. That in itself is a daunting task. One that I'm glad she is handling and not me. Finances have also been consuming her "free" time. (No pun intended.) With our first month's rent coming up, purchasing Christmas presents, adding a furry little family member, and dealing with the little unexpected financial monkeys, she has been feeling a bit overwhelmed. The best way I can describe her is swimming up stream. It's hard and tiring, but if she slows down her furious pace, she will quickly become behind and in a more difficult position than when she started.

Unfortunately, I don't seem to be helping her. The finanical monkey I spoke about is an inconsistancy with The Man. To be more precise, the IRS. (Those are three scary letters when put together.) According to The Man, yours truely didn't pay his federal taxes in 2002. Ouch. The problem is that particular year, I did my taxes online using the IRS' website. I printed everything off and sent it in. So what's the problem? Well, I printed everything off but I didn't send everything in. A few weeks later (in 2002) I received a letter saying I was missing a sheet of paper. Supposedly all I had to do was send it in and all my worries would be eliminated. HA! Four years later and here we are. Hopefully we will be able to find a rather inexpensive solution.

Bernt and Bella have been tackling the whole potty training thing. She has been getting better. It use to be around 3:00 am that she would wake up and have to go out. Now she has pushed that back an hour. I still need to take her out about every hour, or after she wakes up from her frequent cat...err....dog naps.

When I'm not hauling our cargo from Shorview to Shakopee, I'm doing freelance. (See my previous post for more info on that.) And even that has taken a back seat (no pun intended) since Jan has been in California. She left Wednesday and won't return 'til Sunday. You can tell everyone is anxious for us to be out on our own. Aaron and Kari already have plans for the basement and Erin and I are both anxious to be greedy and not have to worry about anyone else.

Bella has already grown so much since we got her last Wednesday. She is stubborn but extremely loving to people. She loves to be held and will nuzzle right underneath your chin. She is not a big fan of the snow, so I have to clear a little section for her to empty her kidney's. Right now she does have a little cough/cold and we are giving her meds to help her out.

Not a very fun read but it lets you know what we have been up too.

—b

Let the Christmas Music Begin!

The first snowfall! Oh have I longed for this!

(I'm trying to forget that this snow will be gone before the weeks end.)

Tuesday night, despite the winter weather advisory, I spent three hours moving goods from Shoreview to Shakopee. The majority of time was spent in Betty listening to Christmas music while traveling below posted speeds. Kool 108's Christmas selection kept me happy as 35W was down to one lane and as I passed by a couple of vehicles facing north in the south bound lane on highway 169.

Normally I would wait to closer to Thanksgiving to turn over my music tastes. But for whatever reason, I couldn't wait. Most of you will probably wait for the snow to ripen before listening to "Hark, the Herald Angels Sing". For all of you nay sayers I say Bah, Humbug!

—b

Disney Afternoon

[sing]
Life is like a hurricane, i-n, Duckburg.
Racecars, lasers, aeroplanes, it's a, duck-blur…

Enough of that.

A couple of days ago, Erin and I went to Target to pick up a few household items and look for Christmas presents. While in the DVD section, I discovered that Volume 1 of Ducktales and Chip 'n Dales Rescue Rangers were just released! Good for me. Bad for Erin.

Memories of these two cartoon series flooded the levee's of my memory. I associate these two half-hour programs with coming home from school and quickly turning on ABC to catch the beginning of The Disney Afternoon. By 3:15, I had a huge bowl of vanilla ice cream loaded with Hershey's chocolate syrup and ever-so-delicately microwaved the treasured 4,000 plus calories for 30 seconds.

The Disney Afternoon was one of the best two hour blocks of time ever conceived by the TV gods. 1990-1998 was the lifespan of this beloved necessity of life. As you can read from Wikipedia's site (if you so chose to), it started out showing the Gummi Bears, followed by Ducktales, and finishing it off was Chip 'n Dales Rescue Rangers. Shortly after, TaleSpin was added to complete the masterpiece. Many shows were added replacing the originals but it would never be the same.

Back to present time… I had to have these. Reality set in. (Otherwise known as my wife.) I could only get one. (And she said I was lucky to get that.) Ducktales it is. That night I watched four of the nine episodes. Two nights later, I'm ready for disc two. (I'm easily entertained.)

While doing a search on the internet, I find these two titles are coveted by numerous others like me. Also on eBay is the Disney Afternoon soundtrack. Fun! Not worth the $40.00 plus fun that the bidding is currently up to, but still fun. Oh the money we will spend to re-live and remember our childhood huh?

The point of all this? Well, enjoy life right now because 15 years from now you might want to shell out some money for just a piece of it. And for you young entrepreneurs out there, (a-hem, Leif), if you can find something right now to hang onto for 15 years, it will probably worth some green.

—b

Freelance

A Not-So-Brief Look Into Bernt's Freelance Jobs.

While Erin has been trying to paint and organize our townhome, I have been tackling freelance. It has left me "feeling tired; like butter spread on too much toast." (A paraphrased quote by Bilbo Baggins in Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.)

My freelance work has consisted of helping John Mayer (not the musician) and Steve Harrison.

Rev. John A. Mayer: Creator and founder of Religion Information Resources (RIR). He is able to dig up exhausted info concerning the churches state in the Twin Cities. Just a glimpse of some of the topics he tackles consists of: Church age, attendence, size, race to name a few. He also researches the homosexual and cult climate. (Did you know there are several homosexual churches in Minneapolis/St. Paul. And their are Wiccan/Witchcraft day-care centers.) The minority population is also a big part of his research. (Minneapolis is the most diverse city in the United States. The Phillips Neighborhood, located in south Mpls., alone has over 125 different languages spoken their) He not only keeps up-to-date info, but John also charts and graphs the trends over the past 10 years. Very in-depth. Very interesting.

So what does John do with all of this info?
1. He is mainly used as a consultant and a speaker for plantning churches. He is asked by several churches to speak and make known his findings as well as help them in the who's, how's, when's where's, and why's.
2. John helps make know what is going on in here are his "Discover You City" tours. A charter bus is rented and a group of about 20-30 people have their eyes opened as John speaks about the goings on outside their very windows.
3. Every year he publishes his findings (over 100 pages worth) into a publication called CityScopes. Besides being a great tool in church planting and keeping up-to-date as too what's going on in the city we live in, several pastor's utilize the info in their sermons.

Steve Harrison: Involved with Bethany Urban Development (BUD), the Urban Jungle, and BUD's Spiffy Clean. BUD's focus is inner city missions. Steve is also one of John Mayer's board members.

So what does Steve do with BUD?
1. Bethany Urban Developement does a lot of what STEM does only it's urban Minneapolis focused. Whether it's cleaning up trash around a ministry, helping with construction, or street evangelism.
2. Urban Jungle is a coffee shop located on Lake street in downtown Minneapolis. (It's one of those area's where you don't want to be at night.) It's used an outreach tool. The staff (Bethany College of Missions students) can openly share the gospel and their testimonies with the patrons. A very cool idea and a great place for an espresso.
3. Spiffy Clean is not even a microscopic speck on COIT's radar. It's a small group of people who help clean churches for discounted prices.

Anyway, those two guys/organizations have dominated my nights and Saturday's recently. Both are great guys working for some great causes.

A Brief Look Into Erin's Non-Paying Freelance Jobs.

Erin Eidsmoe: Wife and caretaker of Bernt Eidsmoe. Here are some of the projects she is currently ivolved with:
1. Painting and cleaning new townhome.
2. Helping coordinate Bible study on Tuesday nights.
3. Awana on Wednesday nights.
4. Babysitting the two-month old puppy named Bella.
5. Babysitting the four-year old Anna who is supposed to be looking after the two-month old puppy named Bella.
6. Babysitting the 27-year old Bernt who is supposed to be looking after four-year old Anna who is supposed to be looking after the two-month old puppy named Bella.
7. Taking on-line Bible classes from Northwestern College when not involved with numbers 1-6.

—b

Bella's Introduction

The picture above is not ours. Ours looks just like this one though. Our "T-Zones" for our camera isn't working so I am unable to post a picture of her. I'll get one up soon enough though.

Well, as some of you already know, we purchased a puppy! Erin and I have both wanted a dog for a while. After researching the different dog types and what we would like, we ended up with a miniature dachshund. (Sorry Sadie, it just wasn't meant to be. I did fight for ya though.)

Erin's Criteria: Tiny when fully grown (no more than 15 pounds), no shedding, not a "jumper", mellow, and basically one that will sit on your lap and be very "pretty".

Bernt's Criteria: A dog that was alive.
(Ok, so I was a little bit pickier but I think you get my point.)

We swore that we would never purchase a dog at a pet shop. Oops. Last night we had been talking it over and visited the HarMar mall in Roseville. We were originally thinking about getting a Puggle (Pug and Beagle mix). Very cute. Unfortunately they are the hottest things right now. So unless you want to pay $670 for a female, your outta luck. Two puggles were sold while we were at the pet shop.

When Erin had finished Awana, Anna and I picked her up and scooted very quickly over to the Pet Connection. Before we even told Anna which one we were looking at, she pointed out the dachshund and said it was her favorite. 30 minutes later, I was in the front seat and the two girls were in the backseat arguing over who gets to hold the latest edition to the Eidsmoe's. (And don't think my wife went easy on four year old Anna. "My turn, my turn, when's it gonna be my turn", came out of both of them.)

The half-hour ride home consisted of the three of us shouting out random names for the puppy. Mimi, Brownie, Gus Gus (that was my favorite), Balloony (that was Anna's favorite), Buttercup, etc. Then Erin, sticking with a Disney theme, came up with Bella. Beauty and the Beast's Belle, just replacing the "e" with "a". Ding, Ding, Ding, Ding, Ding, Ding, Ding, we have a winner!

Bella fits our criteria to a "T", minus the shedding part that is. It won't be a lot, but she will shed. She will weigh 11 pounds when fully grown (she is 3 pounds right now). She is not a "jumper" and is very calm but has a little bit of spunk/playfulness to her. We haven't even heard her bark yet. The most noise she made is when she woke up at 5:00 am so I took her outside. She didn't like the cold morning and huddled next to the door whimpering. (She did eventually go to the bathroom outside before we left for work this morning.)

Right now she is at our townhome quarentined in the kitchen/bathroom on the first floor. She didn't whine when we left so that made leaving just a little bit easier. Although I'm assuming the whining and barking will soon veer it's annoying little head.

That's it for now.

—b

Tuesday's "Rat Race"

Tuesday night is Bible study night for us. It's easily one of our highlights every week. The friendships that have come out of it are priceless. Two other young couples and us take turns meeting at each others homes. (Well, Erin and I have yet to host but that will soon change along with our address.)

A couple of weeks ago, one of the wives from our Bible study group severly broke her leg. (Have I written about this already? I'm losing my memory in my old age.) Anyway, instead of the typical meetings, we have just focused on the fellowship aspect the last two Tuesdays. Once just meeting at Starbucks [cough] overrated [cough], and last night we met for a movie night. Erin and I supplied Papa Murphy's, Nate (whose wife was the one injured) supplied the home and pop and movie, and Cliff and Michelle suppied the cookies. So, as you may have already guessed by the title of this post, the movie we devoted two hours of our life to was "Rat Race".

My review: Two Thumbs Down. It was a poor spin-off of the classic "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World". Don't see it.

Even though 3 of the 5 of us didn't like the movie, 5 out of 5 of us enjoyed the night. It's always fun just to hang out with fellow Christians. Even if we don't have a lot of common interests, the main one (Christ) is the most important and it shows. That's just one great thing about belonging the Christ, when you find someone else who does, there is that instant strong connection. You just can't explain it to a non-believer.

Anyway, it was a fun night, Cara's leg and overall health are much improved, and we look forward to next Tuesday.

—b

A Puppy Named Sadie

Question: Would you give this puppy a home even though one of her legs had to be amputated?

Sadie has a tragic story that needs to be told. She was used as bait for another dog and one of her front legs was so severly broken that the entire limb had to be removed. Doesn't your heart just cry out for her? She will be able to lead a normal life and still be very playful as all dogs are.

I would love to give this puppy a home. Erin on the other hand would like to pay for a "whole" dog. Just because this poor puppy had a tragic experience that wasn't her fault, Erin doesn't want her. If Sadie had all four limbs, it would be no problem. (Am I pulling hard enough on your heart-strings yet?)

I have wanted a dog ever since I moved out on my own. Erin has said that once I get her a home, than I can get my dog. Well, I found my dog. The tough part is convincing Erin to let us give Sadie a home.

I know it's just a dog and I would be happy with another one. But for whatever reason, my heart goes out to this little girl.

—b

Spuddogs

Erin just shouted over our cubes on how she is now in last place.

The only thing she could be last place in is Spuddogs. What's Spuddogs? It's an NFL pick'em league where members of the Eidsmoe's and Johnson's clans try and predict who is going to win each weeks football games.

The Spuddogs name comes from a combination of Moorhead's and Peshtigo's high school mascots. i.e. the Moorhead Spuds and the Peshitgo Bulldogs. Spuds as a mascot…I know, I know. The village idiot went missing one day and Moorhead decieded it would be a good idea to let him name the mascot.

Anyway, it is currently year three of our friendly competition. It's mostly for bragging rights but the winner also gets the coveted JETT (Johnson Eidsmoe Traveling Trophy) for the year. The trophy is about a 2' x 1' stained plaque with 20 plus nameplates on the left and a mini Spuddog helmet, in a case, on the right. Above the helmet is the JETT logo. Each year, the winners name and the year they won get engraved on a nameplate and they autograph one side of the helmet. (I would show you a picture of it, but because I haven't won it yet, I don't have that privilege.)

The inagural season was easily taken by Erin's dad Kevin and last year my brother Leif stole it from me the last week of the season. This year at the half way point my dad is doing very well and has a bit of a lead. Hopefully he will hang on for the win.

Here are the standings after week 9:

Rank	Pick Set Name	Total Pts	Group Pts
1	Kayaker	85	80
2	MomE	84	78
3	I'm still learning	81	76
4	A Darn Cheesehead Eh	79	73
4	I'll Be Back	78	73
6	Hoja	78	72
6	Seriously Futbol	77	72
8	Toasted	76	71
9	Johnson=Rule Eidsmoe=Drool	76	69

Here is the key for who is who:
Kayaker: Bruce Eidsmoe
MomE: Deb Eidsmoe
I'm still learning: De Johnson
A Darn Cheesehead Eh: Josh Johnson
I'll Be Back: Kevin Johnson
Hoja: Leif Eidsmoe
Seriously Futbol: Cyri Eidsmoe
Toasted: Bernt Eidsmoe
Johnson=Rule Eidsmoe=Drool: Erin Eidsmoe

What can I say, Erin and I are in the cellar. Right now our biggest motivation is to beat each other. I'm pretty sure the same goes for Leif and Cyri.

That's it for now and "you stay classy San Diego. I'm Ron Burgundy?" ;)

—b

"Bionicle. I'm a first grade teacher."

Does it ever bother any one else if they can't remember what they did two days earlier? I know I was alive on Friday, but why I can't I remember what I did? Hmmm…maybe I was abducted by the same aliens who are responsible for Wal••Mart?

Anyway…Friday we (and when I say we, I mean Erin and Arika) started painting. They didn't get far before my brother and sister in-law arrived here in Shakopee, but hey, it's a start. Leif and Cyri arrived from Sioux Falls, SD at 7:45. It was really good to see them again. I always forget how much fun Erin and I have hanging out with them. (That probably doesn't come as a surprise since I had trouble remembering what I did on Friday.)

A night of sleeping on the floor left the wives stiff and all of us hungry. The four of us met my folks (who were in town for a wedding and the Vikings game), aunt, and cousin at Eagan's Baker Square. The waiter was bad, the food was good, and the company was the best. We all had a great time catching up with family and being entertained by my mom. Who by the way had the line of the day: "Bionicle. I'm a first grade teacher." (One of those times when you had to be their to enjoy it.)

After leaving the waiter a cheap tip, we went our separate ways. My mom's sister, (who is does not know what Bionicle is and is now thankful she's not a first grade teacher), and her daughter headed back home to Hastings. My parents followed the printed MapQuest pages to Woodbury, and the fab four (us) sped off to the Mall of America.

Three of the four of us left the Mall empty handed and met up with ma and pa at Target. While leaving with more than I planned on purchasing, we all agreed to stop at the hotel and bless Old Chicago with our presence.

Like Baker's Square, the waiter was bad, the food was good, and the company was great. We enjoyed the Windy City themed restaurant as we filled our tummies and surpassed our allotted calorie content for the day.

We returned back to the hotel about 8:30 after a long drive to Shakopee. Not wanting to say good night yet, Mr. and Mrs. Smith kept us entertained via the pay-per-view option for a couple of hours. (It was a good movie overall. Slower than I had expected but still good.)

The morning of the Sabbath, Erin and I picked up J-Bone to feed our faces and our need for football at Joe Sensor's restaurant. A few hours later, the Vikings had their third victory of the season and mom, dad, Leif, and Cyri arrived at our townhouse.

Not too much later, Leif and Cyri headed back for South Dakota and mom, dad, and I headed to Jan's. While they were making small talk with my dad's sister and mom, I filled up the Jeep with household items. We said our final goodbye's and mom, dad, and grandma headed back home and I made the 30 minute trip back to Valley Fair country.

Well, for those of you who care, that was our weekend. Nothing too exciting, but it was fun and exhausting.

Take care and God bless.

—b

Painting with VeggieTales

Money.

What would you spend your money on? I know I could think of a lot of things I would have fun purchasing. Star Wars toys, DVD's, video games, t-shirts, CD's…the list goes on. One thing that wouldn't get included is paint. I'm not talking about acrylic, or water based for expressing your inner-self on canvas. I'm not even referring to finger paint. What I'm talking about is house paint. Ouch. Money on Behr house paint. We willing spent money on something that isn't fun.

Erin and I (yes, both of us) chose two gallons each of "Mother Nature", "Sunset Beige", and "Navajo White". Nice warm colors. We will wake up to Mother Nature every morning, when guests spend the night, they will be greeted with Sunset Beige, and Navajo White will cover our blemishes in the kitchen. Needless to say, Erin is extremely excited.

NOTE TO SELF: Erin gets excited over odd items. A new kitchen table and house paint just to name two. I would be happy with a $15.99 DVD or even a $4.99 Star Wars action figure. Erin is happy over a table and on paint. LESSON LEARNED: Spend a lot on random stuff to make my wife happy. ;)

If it is any consolation, Erin did let me get the new VeggieTales DVD. "Lord of the Beans" was released last week. While at Wal•Mart (They always seem to have low prices. Always.) looking for painting supplies, I snuck away to look at toys and DVD's. I came upon a display stand of VeggieTales' latest release. Not only did it the Lord of the Beans, but it came with a Bonus DVD (Wal•Mart seems to have found a niche with the bonus DVD's). The extra DVD consisted of three music video "Silly Songs", computer desktop backgrounds, coloring book pages you could print out, and VeggieTales songs. Fun!

Anyway, in the midst of packing up our bedroom in preparation for the move, I haven't been able to watch the movie yet but I'm looking forward to it. (At least it won't cost me a lot of money.) ;)

—b

Erase and Restore

"Are you sure you want to erase your harddrive?"

That is one scary sentence. Clicking the "Yes" button is even scarier. All day yesterday through today I have been downloading applications, upgrades, drivers, plug-ins, and updates. Judy admitted her sins, was baptized, and is ready to start anew. To translate: My computer knew it wasn't working right (not literally), needed to be completely wiped of all information, and is now starting over fresh with no bugs in her.

Judy is working great! She's like a brand new computer and she does what she is supposed to.

It makes me think, how many of us take our new lives with Christ as literally as we should? We get to start anew. Fresh, clean, without fault. Wonderful isn't it? But when we click the "Yes" button with Christ, do we hang onto some of the "bugs" of the past. We want to start new but also want to hang onto some of our guilty pleasures of the past. I'm guilty.

So instead of starting brand-spaking new, fresh out of the box, still having the new factory smell; we bring with us some of the older versions that affect our new, factory-sealed selves. Even if we try and justify that it's just a small part of our lives, it ends up affecting everything!

Most of us choose the popular "Extreme Makeover". We put on a brand new outside, but inside we are unchanged. So we may be able to trick and impress others but we know we are still the same person.

If you are struggling with a particular sin and can't get rid of it, I would suggest clicking "Erase and Restore". If you have tried everything and it doesn't seem to work for you. Erase everthing! Surrender all! Not just portions of your life but everything! When you make the contious decision to surrender all, good and bad, you won't have to worry about the particular sin you struggle with because it's gone. Everything you have and are is gone. Your heavenly Father is control now. All you have to do is what he says. Sounds simple enough huh?

When was the last time you Erased and Restored?

—b

Rise Lord Vader (on DVD)

Yesterday, fellow Star Wars nerds and I rejoiced as the final installment of George Lucas' space opera was released on DVD. Episode III Revenge of the Sith was released to the public at 12:01 am on November 1st. Although I wasn't at Wal•Mart for the unveiling, I did pick up the treasured title around 9:00 am as I took the day off.

I won't go into rating the movie since I come with an extremely biased opinion towards the Star Wars saga. I think everyone can guess where I stand. I will however go into a few options of where to purchase the movie.

Best Buy: $14.99 Best Buy was born and raised here in Minnesota and has since grown quicker than Jack's beanstalk. If you are a Rewards Zone Member at Best Buy (which I am not), with the purchase of Episode III you will receive a free lithograph. Kinda cool but since I'm not a Rewards Zone Member, and am not planning on becoming one anytime soon, the promo means, well, Jack to me.

Target: $15.98 Another big time corporation that was born and raised here in the land of 10,000 lakes. (Erin's personal favorite.) Packaged with the DVD is a coin with Vader's likeness inscribed on it. Cool. I don't know what I would do with it, but it's still cool nonetheless.

They are also offering a "best of, two CD, Star Wars soundtrack." My ears perked up when I heard this. Totally intent on the purchase (even though I already own all of the soundtracks as reminded to me by my beautiful bride), I was disappointed to discover the CD was attached to the Episode III soundtrack and the second disc was the Episode III soundtrack. Arrgh! Oh well. I've got to hand it to Target's marketing team.

Wal•Mart: $14.87 or $19.96 Not born or affiliated with the state of hockey in any way. In fact, I think Wal•Mart was put on earth by aliens to further their effort to take over the world. (Ok maybe not the aliens part.) The mega company is offering the Non-Nerd and Nerd versions. The Non-Nerd version is the movie alone. Still a winner. The Nerd version consists of another DVD called "The Story of Star Wars". The "bonus disc" contains R2-D2 and C-3PO summarizing and showing clips from episode's I, II, IV, V, and VI. (Notice III is missing.)

WINNER: Wal•Mart

That's all of now, and May the Force be With You!

—b